Ino Yamanaka

Template:Infobox Character (fixed)Ino Yamanaka is a kunoichi of Konohagakure's Yamanaka clan and a former member of Team 10. She is a childhood friend of Sakura Haruno, helping her develop her own identity. When they discovered they both liked Sasuke Uchiha, their friendship ended. The two eventually make amends and rekindle their friendship, but still retain a competitive attitude towards each other. In the anime, when Sakura begins to excel in healing techniques, Ino becomes her surrogate apprentice, hoping to be more useful to her friends and teammates as a capable medical ninja. In terms of combat abilities, Ino specializes in mind-altering techniques. To use these techniques, Ino transfers her consciousness to her opponent's mind, gaining control over their body which she can then use to attack others. In the series epilogue, Ino ended up marrying Sai and they have a son Inojin. In the Japanese anime, her Japanese voice actress is Ryoka Yuzuka, and her voice actress in the English adaptation is Colleen Villard.

Contents

Background

Early Life

Ino and Sakura as children.

Ino was born the only child of Inoichi Yamanaka and was a popular student during her time in the Academy. There, she met Sakura Haruno, who was teased by the other kids due to her large forehead. Ino defended Sakura from the bullies and encouraged her to embrace her forhead rather than hide it, becoming good friends with her. Over the following years, Ino's guidance and friendship helped Sakura become more confident and develop into her own person. However, when Sakura found out they had a crush on the same boy, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura approached Ino and informed her of her liking towards Sasuke. Ino took it to end their friendship, starting their dislike towards each other in the beginning of the series.

Personality

Appearance

Abilities

Chakra and Physical Prowess

Ino senses chakra around her.

Although not at Sakura's level, Ino is skilled in controlling her chakra, enough to flow it through a medium in order to bind targets. By Part II of Naruto, her chakra control improved enough to help perform the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier, as well as transfer her chakra to others.

Although Ino rarely uses taijutsu, she has proven to be skilled enough in battle against Sakura during the Chunin Exams, and against a reincarnation Asuma in the Fourth Shinobi World War, a proficient taijutsu user himself. Ino has also shown impressive strength and speed, able to tackle Choji, with an enlarged arm, away from Asuma's extremely fast Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique.

Ninjutsu

Ino using the Mystical Palm Technique.

Ino has great sensory skills, enough to detect changes in another person's chakra. She can lock onto an enemy's chakra signature and transfer the information to her allies for their benefit. She has also learned medical ninjutsu over the time-skip and was noted to have mastered it by Part II; the anime shows she trained alongside Sakura under Tsunade's supervision. She is skilled enough to diagnose the severity of an attack with just a glance or during healing. Ino's nature transformations include Earth, Water, Yin, Yang and in the anime Fire Release.

Yamanaka Clan Techniques

Ino using the Mind Body Switch Technique.

As a Yamanaka, Ino specialises in mind-affecting techniques, such as the Mind Body Switch Technique, which allows her to briefly possess a target and take control of their actions. She can also use this technique on animals for reconnaissance and espionage, as it was originally intended. Ino's body, however, is left vulnerable to attack while the technique is active, and therefore it is not suited for battle. She can also be forced out of the body if the opponent's will is strong enough. In the anime, she learns the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, which allows her to force her enemies to attack each other.

Ino using the Mind Clone Switch Technique.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino's speed with the Mind Body Switch Technique has greatly improved; able to quickly save her allies from incoming danger on multiple occasions. Ino has also learned the Mind Clone Switch Technique, which allows her to control multiple targets at once. With the Mind Body Transmission Technique, she can communicate telepathically with multiple people at once, convey memories and feelings to others or transmit what she senses into a target's mind. By making physical contact with a person, the targets can also communicate with one another while the technique is active. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Ino's telepathic range has expanded enough to receive and broadcast messages across the Five Great Shinobi Countries in a short period of time.

Intelligence

Sakura falls prey to Ino's trap.

Ino is quite intelligent, graduating at the top of her class in the Academy, alongside Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame. She can be quite deceptive in battle, feigning emotion to deceive her opponents into lowering their guard so that she can capture them, at the same time overcoming her Mind Body Switch Technique's inherit weakness. The anime shows that Ino is very attentive, able to determine a person's occupation by glancing at the condition of their hands. During Pain's Assault, she concluded that Pain's real body must be around the village for his technique to work.

New Era (Plot)

Academy Arc

Ino goes on a trip with Sakura to a seaside cliff where Sasuke and Sakura went on their first date. Ino asks Sakura if Sasuke contacted her. Sakura says no, wondering what Sasuke is doing at the moment. Ino leaves Sakura alone in order to let her remember about her first date with Sasuke.

Ino and Sai waiting for Inojin.

On the day of the Five Kage Summit in Konoha Ino becomes irritated that her son Inojin didn't turn up to his training, and tells Karui of the importance of their children practising the Ino-Shika-Cho formation even in such peaceful times.

Sarada Uchiha Arc

At the village gate beside Choji, Ino spots Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Chocho Akimichi and Sarada Uchiha returning to the village. She muses about Chocho's shock towards her father's changed figure. While Ino happily greets Sasuke, Sarada believes Ino is making a move on her father and interrupts her, which amuses Sakura and confuses Ino.

Versus Momoshiki Arc

Ino watching the Chunin Exams.

Ino hangs out with Sakura and Temari one day and they see Naruto's shadow clones running around to help out villagers. The three women later sat together to watch the Chunin Exams' final round, where Ino becomes exasperated when Shikadai Nara mirrors his father's actions in his youth by giving up against Boruto Uzumaki. When Momoshiki and Kinshiki Otsutsuki attack the arena, Ino leaves the audience along with Hinata and Himawari Uzumaki and observes the ensuing battle.